Here we are at day three of the challenge. I hope you all are enjoying all of our nails. Today brings us to the day of yellow nails. I’m really trying to not rely on stamping for this challenge so today I decided to try some real nail-art-y nail art, a la Alaina (from The Little Canvas). If you have checked out her blog, which I hope you have, you’ll know I’m telling the truth when I say that girl paints some crazy stuff on her nails!! She once painted them up with gnomes… I mean, how crazy is that? She must be obsessed or something. Anyway- she freehands ALL her nail art. That is just something I could never do, my hands are too shaky, and I just don’t really even have the desire to paint intricate designs on my nails. Since this is our challenge and we can pretty much do what we please, I decided to push myself by trying to freehand some sunflower nails. Here is my inspiration from my backyard:

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Now remember this is my first attempt at anything like this and be gentle. :) Check out my sunflower nails!

Day 3: Yellow Sunflower Nails

How To Get These Nails:

Use ChG Sunshine Pop and a dotting tool to make a filled-in circle of dots in the middle of your accent nail for the center of the sunflower.

Use a small striping/detailer brush to paint the petals with ChG Sunshine Pop.

Once your flower is mostly shaped, use a sheer orange polish (I used Orly Crush On You) to add a little darkness to the center of the petals with the detail brush.

Use that brush and Ulta Cream of the Crop (a very light yellow) to add a little brightness around the outer edges of the sunflower.

Lastly, use Essence Oh De Prep (brown) with a pin to dot some tiny little seeds in the middle of your sunflower and use the detail brush to outline your petals and center of the flower.

Say a little prayer thanking God that you’re done (oh.. was that just me?) and let this design dry quite thoroughly before you add topcoat. If it smears, you’re gonna want to chug your bottle of acetone and kill yourself, so don’t do that.

Apply a nice layer of Seche Vite to smooth it out and add a glossy shine.

Use a dotting tool and ChG Sunshine Pop to dot the remaining nails.

Add topcoat when it’s safe to do so.

Ta-daaaa! Pretty sunflower nails!! :D

Don’t forget to check out everyone else’s yellow nails!!

Now, when I’m looking at that picture of the sunflower and then my sunflower nails.. do my nails resemble it? Little bit. But… I still was pretty proud of this first attempt and I really liked the outcome. I’m not really all for a super intricate style of nails, so I liked the accent nail design (plus, then I only had to paint one sunflower!! Score!). Make sure to let me know how YOU like these nails, and give me any tips to use in the future! As always, thanks for reading and Happy Polishing!!

Your sunflower looks great! I’ve yet to attempt any real free-hand nail art, maybe one of these days. I like that you didn’t just go straight to all yellow nails like I did, your yellow polka dots are cute.

Thanks Amanda! I just thought I should give it a go since Alaina is always doing something awesome and free-handed. I decided even if it was bad I was gonna use it and in the end I was pretty happy. :)

Thank you for the shout out <3 and I AM NO GNOME OBSESSED! you made me do them…jerk lol. These came out amazing, which I already told you when I got my sneak peak! Can't wait to see if you freehand more things for this challenge <3

Haha I knew I had to say something about the gnomes because her and Gabi gave me such a hard time for it forEVER!! Haha. Also it worked as a little test to see if she was realllly paying attention. Haha. ;)

Thank you! I’m glad you are so impressed! Haha. I might try some other freehand stuff in the future as the opportunity arises, cuz it was pretty fun and I was happy w how it turned out. Now if I did a flower on each nail… THAT would probably be a mess. Haha. Thanks for reading and commenting! :D

Your build-up was all like, “This will suck, it’s my first time, be kind,” and then I scrolled to the photo and actually scoffed out loud because it looks so amazing! I love this mani! I like the dots with the flower accent a lot…it just came out super-cute.

Well I thought some people might throw up when they saw it if they’re some of these amazing freehand people, so I didn’t want people to have too high of expectations! It actually did turn out way better than I expected but I think I just got lucky w this flower. If I’d some more they’d probably end up looking like a sunflower candle that got stored up in the attic and partially melted from the heat. Good thing I only did one!! Haha. And thanks for the compliments! Glad you liked the dots along w it. :)